Saturday, April 19, 2014

Pottery, café au lait, scrambled eggs with leftover cornbread

Hello,

MY BABY IS GETTING MARRIED!!!

She called us yesterday with the big news. She said she was going to process it a bit before announcing it to the world but a few hours later it was all out on facebook with a pic of her smiling from ear to ear! It's emotionally exciting and a bit overwhelming. She might be 24 but she was my first baby! She moved out a few years ago but wow! A new milestone for everybody in this family! :D

All week, I just wanted to wish everybody a great Easter weekend. :) I had a great post on the topic but I keep getting distracted! The truth is, I have 6-7 posts, waiting to be completed (covering everything from our traditional easter egg decorations, amazing baked ham with scalloped potatoes, bad weather and comforting soup, tasty pasta, cool pottery, crafty cards I made with the girls *breathe* and more). All fun stuff! All unfinished because 1- I can't focus! 2- I have young girls that need me and they don't sit still. Now 3- My baby is getting married (I sort of knew and was on standby for a week) and that is all I think about!! :D

Before the roller coaster of emotions, yesterday's morning was a nice slow one. Got to sleep in, found myself alone in the kitchen while all were puttering or playing upstairs. I made coffee, felt like having it in a bowl like a real café au lait from my youth and took the time to enjoy it on the couch by the window. I even made myself some food without interruption. Usually I don't eat in the morning or not until it's considered brunch or lunch and definitely not before I had a few cups of coffee in my system. I explained and shared my ritual here. I had a strong craving for scrambled eggs though. There was a bunch of green onions wasting away in the fridge and leftover cornbread sitting on the counter. So after 2 good bowls of magic potion which I enjoyed slowly in the living room, I got started.

First I'll sidetrack and say that I made this bowl shown in the pic below. I'm proud of it! :) It was made for my 6 year old daughter who is usually using it for soup but I enjoyed it just as much lately. It is amazingly thick at the base to keep fingers from getting burned and the rim is nice and slim and comfortable for lips to pleasantly sip a hot drink. I hate thick rims. It is the perfect bowl for café au lait or tea. I need to make more but I'm no expert on the pottery wheel and I don't know if I can make it the same.

Lame 'selfie' drinking coffee but who else is going to take the pic?

It didn't occur to me until now but it's appropriate to show this one. It's Easter weekend after all! On this bowl I just felt like being spontaneous, I drew a rabbit without thinking too much about it and then made up a plant/tree that grows figs (one of my favourite fruits). At the time, I was obsessing over the fiddle leaf fig tree which is now everywhere and sort of drew the same kind of leaves. It was a happy experiment. The end result is a whimsical composition and my girl loves it. I'm surprised that it's still in one piece after 2 years! So I'm thinking Etsy shop? ;) Whether that happens or not I plan on sharing my projects on this blog. Okay, focus... So back to the café au lait and morning grub.

It will sound like a contradiction but for barely set scrambled eggs, I like a nice hot cast iron pan. It might not be the right way but somehow it works for me and rarely sticks. Lots of melted butter helps. A well seasoned pan too. There are lots of links on Google for that and the secret is to keep using it! While the cast iron pan heated on medium high, I whisked in a bowl, 2 eggs with a fork, a bit of salt, freshly cracked pepper and set it aside. I then took 2 green onions, washed, trimmed and sliced them. I threw a pat of butter in the pan with a little oil to prevent it from burning and let it melt and foam then threw the onions in. I cooked them for 1 minute stirring on and off and then tipped the eggs in. Now the next step is why it works for me. The moment the eggs hit the pan I take it off the heat. It's my quirky method. I give them the chance to barely set before I gently nudged them into ripples with my spatula, breaking and turning them delicately. Usually just pushing them around here and there as they try to set is enough. I don't add milk, water or cream to my eggs. I like them simple and moist and just cooked enough to say they're not runny. Cooked but creamy! :)

That's what my oldest daughter (the one who is GETTING MARRIED), calls them. She is still asking me to make creamy eggs if the opportunity knocks. The whole process goes really fast! About 2 minutes. Especially when using a cast iron pan that retains the heat so well. I shredded old cheddar on top and let that melt a bit. I took the cornbread sitting on the counter, sliced a piece and put that in the empty pan which I put back on the hot burner to warm it up and toast the sides. It didn't take long. It was so good I ate before taking a pic. Oh well, I'm learning.

It turned out to be a tasty, satisfying brunch which my 6 year old smelled too. Next thing you know I was making an order for her too. Hers is the pic of the yellow goodness in the pan above. Simple, no onions, served with ketchup and toasted cornbread. Oh and here is a plate of her face below! :) Sort of. When I made it, it captured her expression. She had long hair then and loves the colour green. All I had at the time was this dark green glaze that ended up looking blue. Besides that, it's a great little plate that gets used a lot for eggs and sandwiches. If you scroll below, you can see what she looks like with an egg on her face. Here, it never gets old! :)

Her little sister was not impressed though. She wanted boats! Which means hardboiled eggs cut in quarters. With cornbread. Non toasted. No pics for that one but my favourite hardboiled eggs are roughly cooked for 8-9 minutes like the ones in this older post where it was served with buttered asparagus.

Thank you Dave! :) The eggs are nice and quick but it can go wrong fast. Marc ended up having some too but I burned his green onions a bit ha ha! :) I wasn't on the ball and it's the sort of thing that goes hot fast. I stopped using silicone pans which would use a gentler approach. We miss you too! Did both family sides invade the house yet? Ours is coming tomorrow. We'll be 8 adults and 5 kids gnawing on ham and 'taters. Love to your little family too! If only this country wasn't so large! :P

Hey, love your cup. Heard you guys had a great weekend and lots to celebrate :)Say hi to everybody and congratulations to Emilie and James.We'll try to give little E a call for her birthday, if we can't get a hold of her, please wish her a happy birthday from us.

Thank you Christina, it would be nice if I could make a set. Yes it was a great and busy one. The girls received your cards and they used the stickers right away! Thank you! :) I will pass along your congratulations to Émilie and James. Little e is having a quiet day for now she and I baked an other cake for today. A simple chocolate one with whipped cream and strawberries. Oh and sprinkles! :) We will celebrate after we pick Vivi from school. My father will visit too and stay for supper. Spaghetti! Her favourite! All seems to happen so fast right now. Trying to enjoy the little things! :)

A little about Me

Illustrator, mother. I work from home with my husband and partner in crime. You can follow our work at Rocket57. I'm spending a great deal of time playing with food, decor and plants. I'm passionate about it and constantly looking for new ideas or the next great treat to bite into. I would love to share with you! :)